Established in 1968 as a wargames convention by Gary Gygax, who later co-created Dungeons & Dragons, Gen Con was first held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The convention's location moved between various sites in Wisconsin from 1972 to 1984 before becoming fixed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1985, where it remained until moving to its present location, Indianapolis, Indiana in 2003. Other Gen Con conventions have been held sporadically in various locations around the United States, as well as internationally.

In 1976, Gen Con became the property of TSR, Inc., the gaming company co-founded by Gygax. TSR (and Gen Con) were acquired by Wizards of the Coast in 1997, which was subsequently acquired by Hasbro. Hasbro then sold Gen Con to the former CEO of Wizards of the Coast, Peter Adkison, in 2002. Gen Con spent a short time under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, due to a lawsuit brought against them by Lucasfilm in 2008.[3][4] The organization emerged from bankruptcy protection a year later, while still holding its regularly scheduled events.

The International Federation of Wargaming (IFW) hosted a number of small regional conventions in the months following its foundation in 1967, including the first annual club convention in Malvern, PA, in August.[5] Some IFW gamers in the Chicago area could not make the journey to Malvern, so they had an informal gathering that same weekend at the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin home of Gary Gygax.[6][7] Later this gathering would come to be referred to as "Gen Con 0." In 1968, Gygax rented Lake Geneva's Horticultural Hall to hold a follow-up IFW convention, the Lake Geneva Wargames Convention, later known as the Gen Con gaming convention.[8][9] The IFW, which Gygax co-founded, put up $35 of the $50 Horticultural Hall fee to sponsor this first Gen Con.[10][8] Almost 100 people attended. At the second Gen Con in August 1969, Gygax met Rob Kuntz[11] and Dave Arneson.[9][12][13] During these early conventions, the events centered around board games and miniature wargames.[8]

Gen Con's name is a derivation of "Geneva Convention", due to the convention's origins in Lake Geneva. It is also a play on words, as the "Geneva Conventions" are a set of important international treaties regarding war, the subject of many of the early games.[14] Starting in 1971, Gen Con was co-sponsored by the Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association.[15]

In 1985, Gen Con moved to the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center & Arena (MECCA) in Milwaukee,[17] due to a need for more space.[19] After the move, attendance steadily rose from 5,000 to a peak of 30,000 in 1995, making Gen Con the premier event in the role-playing game industry.[20][21] In 1992, Gen Con broke all previous attendance records for any U.S. gaming convention, with more than 18,000 people in attendance.[19] Gen Con briefly joined forces with its major competitor, the Origins Game Fair,[19] and the two were run as a single convention in 1988. Wizards of the Coast debuted Magic: The Gathering at Gen Con in August 1993; the game proved extremely popular, selling out its supply of 2.5 million cards, which had been scheduled to last until the end of the year.[22] The ensuing collectible card game craze has been credited with generating the extra attendance that produced the 1995 record.[23]

A sculpture of a beholder in the convention center complex, Gen Con Indy 2010.

Wizards of the Coast purchased TSR in 1997, which was in turn purchased by Hasbro in 1999. Gen Con moved to the Midwest Express Center (MEC, now the Midwest Airlines Center) in 1998. In November 1999 Wizards announced that Gen Con would leave Milwaukee after the 2002 convention.[17]Peter Adkison, founder of Wizards of the Coast, purchased Gen Con from Hasbro in May 2002,[24] forming Gen Con LLC to run the convention. The first show under Adkison's leadership took place that August in Milwaukee.[25]

The convention moved to Indianapolis in 2003. Peter Adkison attributed the move to the lack of hotel space, the convention center layout, and frequently broken escalators in Milwaukee's convention center.[24][26]

In Indianapolis, the convention, now called Gen Con Indy, continued to draw between 20,000 and 30,000 visitors each year, at the Indiana Convention Center.[27][28] Wizards of the Coast helped celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game at Gen Con Indy 2004.[29] In 2005 Gen Con Indy generated the most direct visitor spending of any annual convention in Indianapolis.[30]

Adkison also restarted the convention in California, this time named Gen Con SoCal. Smaller than its mid-western counterpart, it drew approximately 6,300 attendees in 2005,[31] making it the third-largest consumer hobby game convention in North America. It was held in the Anaheim Convention Center.

In spite of Adkison saying that he did not want Gen Con to become a "mini-E3" in 2003,[24] when E3 downsized in mid-2006, Gen Con LLC announced it would provide more show space for video game businesses.[32] Gen Con described their intention to "pick up where E3 [left] off."[33]

Gen Con was held in Europe in the 1990s, with the first annual European Gen Con held in Sussex, England, in 1990, and Gen Con Barcelona in Spain in 1994. The European convention was held in England for 8 years, through 1997. There was no European Gen Con in 1998, but it reappeared in Belgium in 1999 for a single year, before again reappearing in Paris for three years between 2006 and 2008. Benelux Gen Con, was held in the Netherlands in 1998, and re-occurred there in 2000. Gen Con Barcelona occurred five years, in 1994-6, 1999 and 2004. Gen Con UK was held between 1998 and 2008.[18] A Gen Con was held in Brisbane, Australia, in July 2008 and again in September 2009. A third Gen Con Australia was scheduled for 2010, but was canceled.[35]

The convention features a large exhibit hall filled with game publishers, artists, and related businesses, wherein most attendees spend at least $100.[36] The only game to be on the event schedule every year since the convention's inception is Fight in the Skies,[8][37] (later renamed Dawn Patrol).

The D&D Championship Series (formerly the D&D Open) is a long-running series of Dungeons & Dragons games at Gen Con, beginning in 1977.[15] The RPGA, beginning in 1981, has run large numbers of events at Gen Con, so extensive they have been given their own category. The RPGA events are primarily "Living" games where players create characters who persist between events. The RPGA first ran events in 1981.[15]

The Game Base 7 games library from the 2003 Gen Con Indy

In 1987 a games library was added from which attendees could borrow games.[15] Appearing in 1994 was the first Magic: The Gathering World Championship, won by Zak Dolan, who defeated France's Bertrand Lestrée in the finals.

Gen Con has featured a number of events that raise money for a variety of charities. These include Cardhalla, in which donated cards are used to build a large city. Attendees are then invited to throw coins at the city to destroy it. The coins are collected for charity. Cardhalla was first run in 1999. The gaming group NASCRAG has run Dungeons & Dragons events at Gen Con since 1980. NASCRAG events sometimes donate their ticket fees to charity. The games run tend to be humorous. The Gen Con Live Games Auction is another long-running event, though the majority of the Auction (including the Consignment Store) is not run for charity.

The EN World RPG Awards (the ENnies) are an annual awards ceremony devoted to role-playing games. Established in 2001, the ENnies have been hosted at Gen Con Indy since 2002, and are organized and owned by EN World, a D&D/d20 System news website.[38]

2008 was a tumultuous year, legally, for Gen Con LLC. On January 10, Lucasfilm filed a lawsuit against them, claiming breach of contract, conversion, and unjust enrichment over Celebration IV, held in 2006. The suit also claims Gen Con failed to give the money raised at a charity auction held at the event to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.[39] Gen Con filed a counter-suit claiming Lucasfilm had no basis for their claims and owed money to Gen Con.[40]

On February 15, 2008, Gen Con LLC announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing "significant unforeseen expenses associated with ... externally licensed events".[3] As a result of the bankruptcy filing, the Lucasfilm lawsuit was delayed until November 19, 2008.[41] Gen Con Indy 2008 was held as planned.

On November 20, 2008, a letter of intent to purchase Gen Con LLC's assets was filed with the bankruptcy court. It announced that a to-be-formed company called Gen Con Acquisition Group would purchase Gen Con LLC., for an amount equal to Gen Con LLC's outstanding debt.[42][43] Gen Con's President, Adrian Swartout, described the letter as "suspiciously cryptic" and concluded that the offer "is not in the best interest of our creditors."[44] Gen Con rejected the hostile takeover bid, and the bankruptcy court allowed Gen Con to emerge from bankruptcy in January 2009, 11 months after it had entered Chapter 11.[44][45]

In 2008, Christian Children's Fund was reported to have turned down $17,398 from a GenCon Live Game Auction, during that year's Gen Con.[46] The donation was made in honor of Gary Gygax, who died in 2008, and was a frequent donor to CCF.[47] Some individuals within the gaming community expressed disappointment about the decision; author and game designer Rich Burlew, for example, called it "insulting,"[48] and the response by gamers led both the CCF and Gen Con to issue official statements explaining what had happened.[49] As a result of the misunderstanding, Gen Con chose to support a different charity.[47]

On March 23, 2015, Adrian Swartout sent a letter to Indiana Governor Mike Pence, asking the governor to reconsider his intent to sign SB 101, the so-called "Religious Freedom" bill that already passed both state legislatures. The bill would allow businesses in the state to deny service to anyone on religious grounds, with opponents of the bill stating that it would allow businesses to unfairly single out and discriminate against the LGBT community and other groups. Swartout pointed out in the letter that "Gen Con proudly welcomes a diverse attendee base, made up of different ethnicities, cultures, beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, abilities, and socio-economic backgrounds" from over 40 countries and all 50 states, and that welcoming such a "wide-ranging diversity has been a key element to the success and growth of our convention," as well as injecting "over $50 million dollars" annually to the local economy. Swartout stated that signing such a bill "will have a direct negative impact on the state economy and factor into [Gen Con's] decision-making on hosting the convention in the state of Indiana in future years," after the Indiana Convention Center had already completed a major expansion in 2011 to accommodate increased attendance to Gen Con.[34][50]

^"...a weekend gathering of about a dozen aficianados...at the home of future game designer E. Gary Gygax." See Laws 2007, p. 3.

^Gary Gygax is quoted as saying, "I rented the Horticultural Hall for a full 50 dollars. ... admission was one dollar. I had enough paid admissions to exactly cover the cost of the hall." "...there were only maybe 60 people..." See Laws 2007, p. 5.

^Smith, Erika D. (2005-09-09). "Tourism: The last, but definitely not the least". The Indianapolis Star. Archived from the original on 2005-12-14. Retrieved 2007-08-09. Gen Con, Indianapolis' largest annual convention in terms of direct visitor spending, reported record attendance for its last trip to town for a while.

^"Gen Con 2006: A Hit in its 39th Year". Gen Con LLC. 2006-09-06. Archived from the original on 2008-08-25. Retrieved 2006-09-21. This press release indicates "turnstile attendance was approximately 85,000". Turnstile attendance counts each attendee once for each day they return. For a four-day convention, this means approximately 21,250, if everyone attended all four days.